Class of 2011 graduates from Melrose High School

Monday

Jun 6, 2011 at 12:01 AMJun 6, 2011 at 6:18 AM

Whether facing obstacles, celebrating the good times, or overcoming setbacks, members of the Melrose High School Class of 2011 persevered. These and other sentiments were expressed during graduation excercises Friday night, June 3.

Jim Haddadin/jhaddadin@wickedlocal.com

When they faced obstacles, members of the Melrose High School class of 2011 persevered. In the good times, they celebrated victories, and in bad, they overcame setbacks. And when tragedy struck, members of the class of 2011 were there to help ease one another’s pain.

Those sentiments were expressed by teachers, administrators, and students on Friday night, June 3, during Melrose High School’s graduation exercises for members of the class of 2011, who received their diplomas in front of hundreds of family members and friends.

Temperatures were mild on Friday evening as graduates were called to receive their diplomas, and shake hands with their former teachers.

Before helping to hand out diplomas, Melrose High School Principal Joseph Dillon recognized retiring teachers Susan Eason, Gale Babin, Richard Tice, and Stella Cocchiara. Dillon, who is also retiring this month, said he considers himself a member of the class of 2011, having started his career in Melrose four years ago, when this year’s seniors were entering MHS as freshmen. Dillon thanked the seniors for their “kindness, decency,” and “class.”

“I am proud and humbled to be one of you today,” he said.

This year’s graduation exercises were distinctive; rather than taking place on the Fred W. Green Field, which is being reconstructed, students received their diplomas on the lawn in front of the middle school, referred to as the “Cabbage Patch.”

The class of 2011 was originally scheduled to graduate inside the middle school gymnasium, but during the year, the seniors advocated for the school to allow an outdoor graduation after it became apparent that seating would be limited indoors.

Senior Benjamin Ouellette, who delivered the welcoming address, said that “after a lot of negotiating,” members of the class of 2011 convinced high school administrators to help them organize an outdoor graduation ceremony on the Cabbage Patch.

For Ouellette, the episode was emblematic of his classmates and their perseverance; the class of 2011 has received “the short end of the stick” during their school experience, according to Ouellette, who recounted being displaced during his middle school years, while the city was building the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School. Members of the class of 2011 spent a portion of their middle school years studying in elementary schools, and also occupied a portion of Melrose High School at one time.

“As a class, when you have to continue to strive for what you long for, and overcome the obstacles that you face, something positive is bound to come,” he said.

As part of a new generation, communicating with new technology, Ouellette said members of the class of 2011 have been the first to see “new rules applied,” — referencing the fact that some of his classmates were disciplined this year for misconduct that appeared in digital photographs. The photographs were apparently downloaded from the website Facebook.

“Facebook pictures didn’t exist 10 years ago, and we were the first ones to see these new rules being applied, but we were able to put these things behind us … and kept on ‘L-I-V-I-N,’” Ouellette said, quoting a character from the 1993 movie “Dazed and Confused.”

‘Choices define us’

School Committee Chairwoman Margaret Driscoll opened her speech with a quotation from a different fictional character — Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster from “Harry Potter” children’s book series.

“It is our choices that show what we truly are,” she said, “far more than our abilities.”

Driscoll said that Melrose teachers have chosen to bring their finest skills to the classroom every day to provide students with an excellent education; the community has chosen to cheer students’ victories, and commiserate with them during losses; and family members and friends have chosen to offer love, devotion and encouragement over the years.

“As parents, educational advocates, and cheerleaders of our students’ accomplishments, we, as members of the Melrose School Committee, encourage you to be thoughtful and deliberate in the choices you make,” she told the students, “and know that wherever those choices lead you, we will choose to be proud of the kind, and brave, and talented, and honorable people you are.”

Compassion of classmates

Senior Ellen Cintolo, valedictorian of the class of 2011, said compassion was the characteristic that defined her classmates, who have not only supported community causes, like the Melrose Alliance Against Violence, but have also provided each other with “a shoulder to cry on” when needed.

For Cintolo, that time came during her freshman year of high school, when her mother, “the most selfless person I have ever known,” lost her battle with cancer. Cintolo said recalling her mother’s spirit helped to ease her back into the classroom, but it was her family, friends, teachers and classmates who helped to restore the meaning in her life.

“I returned to my classes and quietly began to persevere through my work, but I did not come back alone,” she said. “I had an army of kindhearted teachers and classmates who motivated me and supported my every endeavor.”

By supporting each other in athletics and extracurricular activities, attending charitable fundraisers, and guiding one another through “those awful exams,” students have demonstrated their compassion for one another, Cintolo said.

“I must reassure everyone not to be afraid to open up to others, and rely on them to help restore your lives, like my family and friends have done for me,” she said.

At the conclusion of her speech, Cintolo was given a standing ovation by the crowd, which was seated a few hundred paces behind the podium, in folding chairs that were arranged in front of the middle school.

Handling challenges with dignity

Senior Jazmine Dixon, like some of her classmates, said that her years in Melrose have prepared her for the challenges she will face after high school. Some of those challenges involved academics — like struggling through an AP biology course — but others involved negotiating the complexities of contemporary society.

Dixon, who is African American, is a resident of Boston, and studied in Melrose through the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) program. Dixon said she was welcomed with open arms in Melrose during her early years attending the city’s Horace Mann Elementary School, and has since overcome several obstacles during her seven years in the METCO program. However, in Melrose — a new environment full of unfamiliar faces — Dixon said she was treated unfairly on some occasions because of her race.

“I handled those situations with dignity, and learned how to settle them constructively,” said Dixon, who will attend the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in the fall. “… since I learned how to overcome those situations in high school, I think that I’ll be ready to overcome those situations when they arise in the future.”